Nigel Irens developed the 'iLAN' trimaran concept following experience with sailing racing multihulls. It is based on the use of a slender hull with transverse stability provided by small outer hulls. For a given load the concept offers exceptional fuel economy, speed and comfort.

'Ilan Voyager' is the 21.3 m prototype built in 1988 to demonstrate the advantages of the concept. She provides a comfortable ride at up to 28 knots with a single main engine of just 180 kW. She went on to prove her speed, economy and range capability by making a record-breaking un-refulled voyage around Britain. The 1568 mile trip was completed in 72 hours at an average of 21.5 knots and required just 2000 litres of fuel.
Following this the vessel worked as a filming platform; she was able to follow racing yachts at high speed while giving a ride smooth enough for still and video photography. 'Ilan Voyager' is now operating as a tourist transfer vessel in the Cape Verde islands, where she fulfills the need for a small, economical inter-island vessel which can operate in the prevailing rough sea conditions.

The success of this prototype has lead to the design and construction of a 35m yacht 'Cable & Wireless Adventurer' which successfully completed a circumnavigation of the world in a record time of less than 75 days. Future applications include passenger vessels and designs from 35 to 50 m are under development

I have met Nigel Irens in 1987. His boats are beautifull and efficient.

The boat is very seaworthy.

Look at that: seems deceiptively simple, result of a hard work on conception for the simplest boat. And very, truly very efficient with a power that an american small runaboat owner would'nt want.

blaredALFA

Registered: August 2005Location: OrlandoPosts: 2,693

September-18-2005 12:10am

Does this design really perform good?

Lin OlenJunior Member

Registered: January 2008Location: Wooli, Australia, 2462Posts: 69

February-4-2008 5:15pm

Rating: 10

Hello yipster. Love your photos. Although the Ilan Voyager is an excellent example of design innovation it can easily be made even better. The stern sucks down at speed which is a problem with narrowing aft profiles. A swept super cavitating foil wing, (no camber) each side of the transom could lift the aft hull and skim across the surface when the craft had the optimum trim. My models seem to scale to full size without Reynolds number penalty. Such foils added to a Shark Cat worked very well... Just a thought. Cheers, Lin.

hoytedowAmerican Omnivore

Registered: September 2009Location: North of CubaPosts: 4,966

April-21-2012 10:46am

Beautiful boat!

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